Huang Ying didn't immediately swallow the pill, crossing his legs and closing his eyes. He sank his consciousness back into his dantian, but the strange scene taking place within it had sadly ended already. The one star that was descending had also stopped sinking lower, stopping at a halfway point between the two different types of stars. Huang Ying could only let out a sigh and wait for the next time the scene showed itself, striking up a conversation with Li Jun.

"Grampa Jun, has it really only been three hours? And did she do something or discover something while I was unconscious?"

There was no telling what might happen if his devouring element was discovered by others, especially now while he was still too weak to defend himself from just about everyone. Luckily, Li Jun quickly assured him that he had nothing to worry about.

"Yes, it has only been three hours, your body is quite a bit more freakish than I first anticipated. And no, she didn't do or discover anything, other than your actual age that is, but that's not something that matters too much. There's no need for you to rest half a day before swallowing the pill, she is still underestimating the power of your body. Swallow it and guide the energy in it according to my directions, there should be enough energy in it to push you right to the 3rd Mortal Step, maybe even the 4th."

Huang Ying gave a short nod of his head and then swallowed the brown pill, a taste that was a mixture of blood and rose petals spreading in his mouth as the pill dissolve. Huang Ying focused all his concentration on the energy that the now liquid pill released, surrounding it with his own Qi to guide it through his body.

He followed Li Jun's directions and had the energy leave his veins and enter his bones, sweeping through and mixing with his bone marrow. Once he had swept through all his bone marrow, he had the energy leave his bones and enter his muscles, making sure that not a single muscle fiber was forgotten. The first realm of cultivation, the Nine Steps of Mortality, was all about getting your body accustomed to Qi, allowing it to produce and store greater quantities of it as it got more and more accustomed to it.

With an expert like Li Jun guiding his moves, there was no chance of Huang Ying failing or making a mistake, the energy coursing through most of his body. After one and a half day, after expending about two-thirds of the energy in the pill, Huang Ying did indeed reach the 3rd Mortal Step. Dingju visited him a few times during this day and a half, but seeing that he had already swallowed the pill and seemed to be focusing on recuperating, she didn't disturb him and only gave him a quick check from a distance.

He didn't forget to spend a bit of the energy within the pill to heal his wounds, a few of his bones already fully healed once the second day dawned. But just as he was about to split up the remaining energy between cultivation and recuperation, he was forced to halt his cultivation due to a familiar voice ringing out from the entrance of the room.

"Scuse scuse, coming through. Yo, Brother Ying, I've come with the promised booze! Let's get shitfaced!"

Huang Ying opened his eyes and saw the yellow-haired and green-eyed Chen Hong pushing open the door to the room and entering, a few clay jars tied to his sapphire-blue belt. Following right behind him was the little Song Yi, her black hair tied into a bun so small it was surprising that she managed to fit so much hair into it. Her differently colored eyes swept around the pure white room as she walked, carrying a few large trays of prepared food while wrinkling her nose.

"This is the medicinal wing? Couldn't they have made it a bit more of a fun place to be? Resting here seems like it would be so dull that it would make me want to hang myself. Yo, I've come to fulfill my promise, I'll let you gorge until you can gorge no more!"

The two people he made a bet with during the final test had come to stay true to their words, both cheerful and carefree as they walked up to his bed. Chen Hong dragged over a table placed against the wall and put the clay jars on it, but Song Yi simply placed the trays of food on the bed, forcing Huang Ying to pull back his legs to make space for them. Chen Hong dug into his robe and pulled out two earthenware cups, filling both with a bit of alcohol from one of the jars and then handing one cup to Huang Ying, keeping the other one for himself.

"Here you go, and don't you dare tell me you don't drink, you're drinking today."

Huang Ying accepted the cup with a smile and a nod of his head, he didn't know these two for long but he was rather fond of their carefree and relaxed attitudes. He guessed that they both carried some secrets, otherwise there was little chance that they would both have such strange abilities, but that didn't matter right now. Huang Ying and Chen Hong didn't even have the chance to place the cups against their lips before the third member of their party loudly protested.

"Okay, now you've got to be ignoring me on purpose, where's my cup?"

Chen Hong's hand halted just as the cup was about to touch his lips. He raised one of his eyebrows and smirked, his gaze roaming all over Song Yi's body before he responded?

"Your cup? Kiddo, come back when you've grown even the smallest trace of a figure and I'll give you a cup, right now you're too young to appreciate the flavor."

Huang Ying almost coughed fiercely after he heard Chen Hong's words, wondering just how he'd react if he found out that Huang Ying was actually younger than the little girl. Song Yi let out a cute snort, her right hand shooting forward without warning. Chen Hong tried to retreat and block her hand, but she seemed to have perfectly predicted his movements, her hand passing through a slight gap in his defense and snatching his cup of alcohol. She held the cup with a victorious expression, sneering lightly at Chen Hong.

"Che, you're a hundred years too early to even attempt to withhold something from me."

Chen Hong's expression twitched a few times as he looked at her victorious sneer, Huang Ying doing his best to hold back his laughter. Chen Hong didn't end up retaliating, raising his arms in defeat and pulling out another cup for himself.

"Fine, fine. But don't you blame me when the taste is too refined and sophisticated for your kiddy palate."

He put the cup on the table he brought over and filled it up with so much alcohol that it almost ran over the edge. He then raised his cup, gesturing for Huang Ying and Song Yi to copy him, and gave Huang Ying a toast, Song Yi supplementing it with her own version.

"A toast to the suicidal bastard that I have to admit made me admire him."
"A toast to the insane man whose gonna be one hell of a crazy Junior Brother that better let me abuse his name in the future."

Huang Ying wasn't sure if they were trying to compliment or insult him, he could only raise his cup and return the toast with a chuckle. All three of them placed the cups against their lips and drank deeply from the strong-smelling alcohol. And then, just as Huang Ying finished swallowing the first gulp of alcohol, the sound of spluttering and splashing came from the other two, Huang Ying's entire body getting drenched in liquid as he instinctively closed his eyes.

Huang Ying calmly placed down his now half-empty cup on the table next to the bed, bringing his hand up to his face and wiping away the liquor that stained it. He opened his eyes and moved his gaze between the two people that had just violently spurted out all the alcohol they drank and were still coughing, Song Yi muttering to herself between her coughs.

"Cough cough, Yup, still as, cough cough, vile as last time, really can't stand it."

Chen Hong was also in the midst of violently coughing, a few drops of alcohol still flying out from his mouth and landing on Huang Ying as he made sure to not miss this chance to retort.

"If you knew that, COUGH, it tasted terrible, COUGH, then why would you drink it?!"

Huang Ying resisted the urge to retort that Chen Hong also shouldn't have drunk the alcohol if he wasn't able to handle it. But even if he wanted to retort, he was currently feeling a violent burst of laughter making its way through his body, finally erupting when Song Yi responded, gesturing with her hand as she slowly got her coughing under control.

"Come on, it's all, cough cough, about the mood you know, the mood. Cough cough, how could I possibly resist? And what was that about kiddy tastes? Didn't you just spurt it out just as quickly as I did?"

Chen Hong quickly opened one of the other jars at his belt, revealing it to actually be filled with water. He took a few swigs to calm his coughing, putting on a righteous expression as he wiped the corners of his mouth.

"I didn't spurt it out, I spat it out on purpose. I'm a connoisseur, I only drink for the exquisite flavor and then spit it out. Come on, brother Ying, back me up here and tell her the truth."

Chen Hong did his best to stealthy blink to Huang Ying as a gesture, but how could Song Yi possibly miss it while sitting right in front of him? Huang Ying got his laughter under control, his lips involuntarily rising as he gestured for Chen Hong to hand over the jars at his belt.

"I think you're both idiots. You've not only ruined my only robe but even all the food that was prepared. Hand over those jars, you're both forbidden from drinking as long as I'm around, I fear I can't afford all the new robes I'll have to buy if you keep drinking around me."

Huang Ying clutched his stomach somewhat as he spoke, the violent laughter ended up poking at his wounds and sending a few jolts of pain through his body. But even so, he stretched his body slightly to snatch the alcohol from the two troublemakers. Both Chen Hong and Song Yi quickly reacted to Huang Ying's actions, pulling away their cups before he could take them.

"You'll have to step over my dead body if you want to take my alcohol!"
"As if I'd let my Junior Brother snatch away my drinks, not on your life!"

Both of them immediately placed the cups against their lips and drank deeply in defiance. But just like last time, they were unable to swallow the alcohol and spurted it out, covering Huang Ying. And that was how Huang Ying's life at the Fierce Flame academy began, covered in wounds and drenched in alcohol due to two troublemakers he couldn't bring himself to dislike.